moi

The Mothers headed off on the trail to the northwest, leaving about midday. They walked for the first half day and set up camp where they could still see Bryn Shander below and behind them. Fonesca conjured a Leomund's Secure Shelter and the party rested there for the evening. In the morning Phantom Steeds were summoned for the journey beyond the orc fortress. It took a number of hours but soon they saw the warrens of the orcs dug into the mountainside above them, crude palisades had been assembled around the cliff-face, and watchtowers studded this crude wall's length. Soon the Mothers realised that a separate track lead up to the humanoid fortress and that they would be able to use the main mountain pass to skirt around the orcs. But as they passed by on the main trail the horns of the orcs began to blow echoing throughout the mountains, for orc and giant alike to hear. Perhaps even the Ice Mage heard the orcish call to war. The Mothers pressed on into the gathering night, not even pausing to look behind for pursuit, soon the horns faded and the Mothers relaxed somewhat. Two hours riding north of the orcs, further into the mountains, the Mothers eventually decided to make camp. Fonesca again provided shelter, and Gaspode arranged a most complicated but effective schedule of watches. It was on the penultimate watch that the arrows appeared out of the dark.

At least ten flew in the first volley, fairly evenly distributed between the two on watch at the time, but the others were soon raised from their beds to face the threat from beyond the range of their vision. The arrows had come from the north, but whatever was out there seemed to be approaching, as there was no disguising the crashing sound of four ogres and a troll descending into the camp. A melee ensued and soon the ogres and the troll were joined by five orcs who calmly divided up their attentions and partnered one of their larger comrades in the battle. Jito made frequent use of his wand of fire, using its Burning Hands ability frequently on the ogre in front of him. Fonesca was last to rise and felt very frustrated by the presence of her colleagues in the melee; she felt that she could have handled everything very adequately if the others were not around. So she held off and used more minor magics to deal with the immediate threat. Levi was keeping the troll at bay while, Jito and Gaspode helped clear up the rest, giving Guthranka the ability to back off from combat in her weakened state. More arrows flew in from the dark, striking at Fonesca, so she loosed a fireball from her wand into the distance hoping to catch her assailants and to light up the area. She heard some screams from this and she saw a number of orcs running off to the north, away from the fortress that they had passed before. The troll and the ogres were the last to fall, the troll having injured Levi sorely, but the priest healed both himself and Guthranka soon after, with Guthranka's own healing ability also being employed. The Mothers are now contemplating whether to try and get more rest or to press on into the mountains.